Months after US private equity firm KKR took a 50% stake in Fotolia, the stock photo company has expanded into Latin America and Australia.

According to Fotolia, the launch of localised services in Latin America and Australia is a “strategic move to acquire more content from local contributing artists, and to build long-lasting relationships with customers in these countries”.

The South American countries Fotolia is expanding into are Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia. Fotolia says it has already experienced a positive interest from Latin America through its Brazilian service, which kicked off in 2010.

Regional Director of Fotolia South America Alejandro Ventura said: “Latin countries are full of talented photographers waiting to be discovered. Fotolia is going to help reach a worldwide audience by introducing microstock and licensing concepts to these new untapped markets.”

Fotolia says it now provides services to 20 countries in 12 languages.

KKR injected $150m equity and arranged $150m debt financing, according to a Financial Times report that announced the investment on 16 May.

Fotolia offers 17 million images and videos. This media is ‘crowdsourced’, which, the company says, allows them to offer images, vectors and videos at “great prices”, while contributing artists receive the “highest commission rate on the market”. Fotolia also offers professional images.

Fotolia images are royalty-free, and can be used for any design project or document, with no time limits or restrictions on the number of printed copies.

According to the FT article, Fotolia has a particularly strong presence in Europe, with over 50 per cent market share in Germany and France.